CURI SIT[?]ES OF THE OCEAN. BOTTOM.

Tauranga Argus and Opotiki Reporter, Volume 1, Issue 20, 6 April 1867, Page 3

CURI SIT[?]ES OF THE OCEAN. BOTTOM.

the 'Seientifi;! AmericanA

(Fion

Mr Green, th° f'n o-ous d vt-i-, teil? siaoii ar stories of his adveutures when m.iki y earcli iu ihe ffeep vvater& oi the oceuu. die ^ \

grives some new sketche^ of what he saw at the Silver Bunks, near Ilnvtl ■" The banks of coral on which my 1 iv inirs were m de are tibout forty mile^ iu Jeno-ih, and fr»m ten to twenty in biexlth. On tliis bank - f coral is presen'eil to ihe diver oue of the mosfc beautiful and Juhlimo scc'nes that-ever was beheld. Tli • wafeFva-ies from ten to one liun dred feet in depih, and is so clear that 'he diver can see f'rom t wo to three blind r«.nl feet wlien snhmer^ed, witli but littie obstruction to the si«ht. rI he bottom of the ocean, in rnanv places, T u$ snt'ioth as'a marble ftaor ; in otb«. rs.it is stnd iod witli coral column*, Irorn ten to one Iiuiid ej i:i heio-lir, and f'rom one t> ei^htv f.et in diameter. The tops of those more lo'ty support. a myriad of pyramid 1 pendant.s, eac'i formingr a myriad more, 'yivin«* the reality to i ma oi ua ry ab >de of sone water uvmph. Io oi her place? the pendant.s fo m arcli altef arch ; and as the diver stands on the b /ttom d tlie ocean, and ihrouo'h these i i the deep vviiufin^ aventic, he finds that they ti 1 hi n with as sacre 1 . n awe as ir he were iu some dd eath.ed-al, whieh Ii d lon^ been burie I beueath '»! I ocean's w tve ' Here and tliere t!ie c.ira! extends even t i the surface'of the water, if tho e lo-'tier columns were tovers beloayin j t > th *se stately temples that are now iu ruhis. Thero were couutless varieiias of dimintitive trees, shrubs, aud plants, iu every creyice of the eorals where the water had deposited tho l.isf earth They were all of a fa: it liu^, oiviii^ to tlie paie liirht thev rcceive 1. alihough ot every siia le, and eni irejy diff -rent tro«i plants I am farniliar witli that ve;etlte on dry' land. (dne in. pir.ieular attracted my atten ion ; ii resemble 1 a s a fan of immeuse size, of vur e at ti e.ilors a kl the m »st briliiant hue. T ie fih \vh ch i i'uhi« tated tnuse iSu'ver Bauks T f ni i 1 as different 111 kin 1 as the scetieiy varied. T ey were oi all lor.ris- c > ors," an l siz -s —from the symmetrical ^oby to the globe like sun-fish ; from tho,e of the duUdst hue to ihe chaujreable dolphitig frrpn the sp ots of tr e leopa d to the hues of the sunbeam ; fr nn the hurrnless minuo'.v to the yoraeious shirk Sonio liad headi like squi r.ds, others lilvi c:ts; and d >os, oue of s n ill s ze r 'semhled the bu 1 terrier. So tie dirtel th toutjh the wa er hke mete.us, while oihers co ild scarcely ba seen to move. T> e"u narite anl ex. i i i the vari >us kin ls'of ti s li 1 hohel 1 while divii!g>' on ihe»e bauks wo-ald, were t euough of uata alist so to d >, require more tfi ia my limits will allo.v, f>r I a.n coavioeel that mo»t of the kin is of iisli which inhahu tne" tropical seas can be fqun l t.irere. Tlie su-u fislr, svvordfish, siarfish, whi'e Shark, blnq or shovel nose shirk wei;e ofteu s en Tuere* were also Hsh whieh resembf-d plants, an l reinained as iixeff in tluir pidtioi as- dirn s, the only pivver they posse3-»ed was to >pe;i and shut when in dn-u^er. Some of them rescmbled the rose w'hmi in luii Uorbm, an l were all hues. There were ribhoa fi h, from f'ourto five inches to tliree fe. t in Icn^tli their ey is are veryjar^e,' a i l o,ro?i u ! ■ lik ? those of the frow. Another fish was spotfc 1 like the leopard from three to ten feet ii lencth. They build their houses like heavers u which they spawn, and the male and lemale watches the -er^ till it hatchcs. I saw many specimens of the srreeu tin-tle, some five feet lono-, which I shculd think wouM weirjh from four to five hundred pouucls.